In the method for processing silver halide color photographic materials, for the purposes of shortening the processing time and lowering pollution, techniques that use a high-silver-chloride emulsion are disclosed in WO 87/04534 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,804) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,676. If a high-silver-chloride emulsion is used, indeed, the processing time can be shortened, but on the contrary the fluctuation of the maximum density becomes disadvantageously large with the change in the pH of the color developer or the change of the developing agent concentration.
Conventionally, the occurrence of tar resulting from oxidation and deterioration of a developer at the time of continuous processing is a problem, and a sulfite or a bisulfite is used as a preservative of developing solution. But, when the amount of sulfite or bisulfite is decreased as much as possible because it affects the color density, tar, which is oxidized products of color developing agents, is apt to be produced, causing undesired stain on the photographic material and the processor. Further, a deposit attributable to the developing agent at the interface between the air and the processing solution in the processing tank is apt to be produced, causing smudge or stain, flaws, and the like. Therefore, solutions for these problems are expected.
As is described in WO 87/04534, from the environmental viewpoint, it is preferable to eliminate benzyl alcohol, which is conventionally used as a color formation accelerator of color development. But if benzyl alcohol is eliminated, a new problem arises that when the color developer is aged at low temperature in winter, the color-developing agent deposits, which is expected to be solved.
On the other hand, a technique wherein various surface-active agents are added to a color developer is described in JP-A ("JP-A" means unexamined published Japanese patent application) No. 234161/1987 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,169. However, the effect of the surface-active agents used in JP-A No. 234161/1987 is not satisfactory for the purpose of the present invention, whereas JP-A No. 42155/1987 does not refer to the matter of the present invention at all and the effect of the surface-active agents as used therein is not satisfactory. Research Disclosure No. 16986 discloses a technique wherein the washing out of a sensitizing dye is accelerated by adding a nonionic surface-active agent, thereby reducing the residual color. But it does not refer to the matter of the present invention at all and the effect of that technique is unsatisfactory in the system of the present invention.
EP No. 436947A and JP-A No. 240054/1991 disclose techniques wherein an anionic surface-active agent and a nonionic surface-active agent are used in a color developer containing few sulfite ions, to reduce stain due to processing. But the techniques have the defects that the effect is small and deposition of the developing agent at low temperature is increased, and therefore the techniques are not satisfactory.